A comparative analysis of electricity generation costs from renewable, fossil fuel and nuclear sources in G20 countries for the period 2015-2030

Ram, Manish; Child, Michael; Aghahosseini, Arman; Bogdanov, Dmitrii; Lohrmann, Alena; Breyer, Christian

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.07.159

Cited by 176 publications

(72 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Fourth, technologies have matured and become both technical and financially more viable under a range of conditions. Mini-grids today include various AC [135] and DC [136,137] transmission options and a variety of primary energy sources (oil, biomass, hydro, wind, solar, hydrogen, or hybrids among others) [27,138]. Monitoring systems [139] allow companies to gather a large amount of data on systems usage, enabling them to refine their business models and technical solutions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Retrospective Analysis of Energy Access with a Focus on the Role of Mini-Grids

et al. 2020

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Achieving universal access to electricity by 2030 is a key part of the Agenda for Sustainable Development, and has its own Sustainable Development Goal, SDG 7.1. This is because electricity services are required for almost all aspects of a modern economy, from the cooling of vaccines to irrigation pumping, to manufacturing and running a business. The achievement of SDG 7.1 will require a thoughtful mix of policy, finance, and technology to be designed and implemented at scale. Yet, the pressing need for an electrification ramp-up is not unprecedented. Many countries (now considered "industrialized") faced similar challenges about a century ago. Although the existing literature covers a great deal of power systems evolution, there is a gap around the specific role and impact of small, isolated power systems in the early stages of electricity uptake. In this paper, we provide insights based on the review of the historical electrification efforts in four (now middle and high-income) countries. The drivers and context of electrification efforts in early stages are described. Those focus particularly on the role of dispersed, small-scale generation systems (mini-grids). Our analysis shows that electrification follows four loosely defined phases, namely: pilot projects, technological roll-out, economic expansion, and social scale-up. We report a selection of historical mistakes and advances that offer lessons of striking importance for today´s energy access efforts, particularly in regards to the development of mini-grids. We find that today, as historically, multi-stakeholder (e.g., planners, regulators, developers, investors, third party actors) collaboration is key and can help build locally adaptable, economically sustainable and community compatible mini-grids that can accelerate-and lower the societal costs of-universal access to electricity.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Retrospective Analysis of Energy Access with a Focus on the Role of Mini-Grids

et al. 2020

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“…The future cost of power generation technologies is a matter of debate [32][33][34][35][36][37]. For the purpose of this investigation, a dynamic approach has been applied based on a series of factors applicable to the reference costs proposed by the International Energy Agency [20].…”

Section: Economic Dimensionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For the purpose of this investigation, a dynamic approach has been applied based on a series of factors applicable to the reference costs proposed by the International Energy Agency [20]. The transformation factors used for the period 2015-2030 were those proposed by [33] as follows: coal (−5.43%); natural gas (+46.02%); nuclear (+9.51%); hydro (−27.49%); wind (−54.30%); PV (−55.28%) and CSP (−56.95%). Reliable transformation factors for the period 2015-2050 were only available for wind (−69.93%) [34] and PV (−64.22%) [35], which are the most dominant technologies in all the 2050 scenarios (except for ST, which incorporates a high proportion of natural gas).…”

Section: Economic Dimensionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment of the Spanish Electricity: Past, Present and Future Projections

Miguel

Cerrato

2020

Energies

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This paper provides an investigation into the sustainability of the electrical system in Spain. The analysis covers historic inventories of power generation, installed capacity and technology mix since 1990 and also contemplates four alternative projections for 2030 and 2050. The sustainability is evaluated using eight indicators that provide objective information about the environmental (climate change, fossil depletion, ozone layer depletion, terrestrial acidification, human toxicity and photochemical smog), economic (levelized cost of electricity) and socio-economic (direct employment) performance of the system. The results show an increase in the magnitude of the environmental impacts between 1990 and 2008, due to a growing power demand triggered by economic expansion. After 2008, the environmental performance improves due to the economic recession and the penetration of renewable energies. Overall, the cost of power generation remains rather stable as rising expenses generated by renewables are compensated by a progressive reduction in the cost of fossil technologies. Direct employment generation has been strongly stimulated by the upsurge in renewables that has taken place in Spain after 2008. Regarding future scenarios, the results evidence that the most ambitious projections in terms of renewable penetration perform best in terms of environmental performance, employment generation and reduced costs (€/MWh). The significance of these benefits was particularly clear in the 2050 scenario. In the long term, the scenario considering higher fossil fuel contributions (ST) performed worst in all sustainability indicators.

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“…As the energy sector is the most important source of SO2 and NOx pollution, the government has also provided massive subsidies for renewable energy like solar and wind, as an effort to reduce the dominance of coal in the country's primary energy supply and power generation. Recent studies show that the cost of renewable electricity generation in China is already dropping below that of conventional energy, such as coal, and this is the case even without accounting for the environmental and social costs of conventional sources (Ram et al, 2018). This provides a powerful economic case for aggressive adoption of renewables in the energy mix.…”

Section: Subsidiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Policies, regulatory framework and enforcement for air quality management: The case of China

Yang

2020

OECD Environment Working Papers

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A comparative analysis of electricity generation costs from renewable, fossil fuel and nuclear sources in G20 countries for the period 2015-2030

Cited by 176 publications

References 18 publications

A Retrospective Analysis of Energy Access with a Focus on the Role of Mini-Grids

A Retrospective Analysis of Energy Access with a Focus on the Role of Mini-Grids

Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment of the Spanish Electricity: Past, Present and Future Projections

Policies, regulatory framework and enforcement for air quality management: The case of China

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